The slow way, made survivable Chapter 10 of 23 Svenska

The map · Part One · The method · Chapter 10 of 23

The funnel: six statuses

Every company the method has touched sits in exactly one of six states. For each: what happens there, what the tool does, what the owner does, and what makes a name fall out. About 9 minutes.

A company that the method has noticed is always in exactly one state, and the state is written in the owner's watchlist file. The six states, in the tool's own spellings, are INTAKE, PIPELINE, WATCH-GATED, WATCH-PRICED, HELD and DROPPED.11The status list in vss/rules.py. A retired seventh spelling, plain WATCH, is refused by the code with a message pointing at the ruling that split it. The order below is the order a name would travel if everything went well, which it almost never does.

The funnel: six statuses and how a name moves between themBoxes from top to bottom: INTAKE, PIPELINE, then a split into WATCH-GATED and WATCH-PRICED, then HELD. Purple arrows between them are labelled with the owner's acts. Dashed vermillion arrows lead from every box into a hatched grey column labelled DROPPED, not watched. The WATCH-GATED box says it comes back only on a named new fact, never a price. INTAKEread, not watchedthe owner enters itPIPELINEentered; gate 1 frozenthe owner reads and values itWATCH-GATEDfailed on somethingother than price;back only on a namednew fact, never a priceWATCH-PRICEDthe reading is done;only price standsin the waythe price crosses the line:the owner buysHELDowned, with a stopDROPPEDnotwatchedWhat makes a name fall out: a failed gate, a class D reasonfor the fall, a hard kill in the accounts, a business outsidethe circle, a stop breached. The tool measures and points;every move between boxes is the owner's act.purple arrows: the owner actsdashed vermillion: a name falls outhatched grey: no longer watched
The six statuses a name can hold, from read to owned. Every downward move is the owner's decision. The tool never moves a name; it measures where each one stands and says so.

INTAKE: read, not watched

What happens
A name is being studied. Its filings are read, figures are entered and checked, a growth view may be written. Nothing about it is watched yet.
The tool does
Fetches its filings on request, stores its figures with provenance, reports what is verified and what is missing. It does not watch the price.
The owner does
Reads. Decides whether to enter the name into the process at all.
Falls out when
The owner decides it is not worth entering. Nothing automatic happens here.

This state exists because of a deadlock the method created for itself: the growth view has to be written before the value is solved, but entering a name used to stamp the date and freeze a gate, so a name could not be studied without being committed to. INTAKE is "read, not watched", and it carries no entry stamp.22Ruling E111, 2026-09-04, resolving the deadlock ruling E109 had created. The code refuses an INTAKE entry that carries any of the fields that only an entered name may have.

PIPELINE: entered

What happens
The owner has entered the name. The date of entry and the price's high point are stamped and frozen, so the "how far has it fallen" gate is judged as of that day and does not drift as the price moves.
The tool does
Watches for the company's own disclosures: periodic reports, changes to its forecast, profit warnings. Nothing else. Leadership changes, buybacks, deals and shareholder notices are filtered out, on the owner's test: would this make me redo the valuation?
The owner does
Works through the gates, the hard kills, the reading, the growth view, the valuation.
Falls out when
A gate fails on something other than price (to WATCH-GATED), a hard kill or a class D reason is found (to DROPPED), or the business turns out to be outside the circle (to DROPPED).

Because entry freezes a gate and that freezing cannot be undone by re-running anything, the scheduled screen is forbidden from entering a name. It may propose. Only the owner, by hand, enters.33Ruling E93: 'entering a PIPELINE name stamps dd_at_entry and peak_date and E12 freezes Gate 1 at that moment — and unlike a fair value, that is not undone by re-striking.' The flag that would allow it is absent from the scheduled unit and must stay absent.

WATCH-GATED: waiting for a fact

What happens
The name failed a gate on something that was not its price. It waits.
The tool does
Watches its disclosures, as for PIPELINE. Does not watch its price, because no price would change the answer.
The owner does
Nothing, until a named new fact arrives. Then re-reads.
Falls out when
The owner decides the fact will never come (to DROPPED), or a new fact reopens the gate (back to PIPELINE).

WATCH-PRICED: waiting for a price

What happens
The reading is done, the value is struck, the most the owner will pay is computed. The price is above it. The name waits for the price alone.
The tool does
Every night, compares the settled closing price to the buy line and reports the distance. Points when the price crosses it. The line is a computed buy price or there is no line: a level typed in by hand for a name never valued is a reminder, and the name is not buyable at it.
The owner does
Waits. Re-values on the company's next report.
Falls out when
The price crosses the line and the owner buys (to HELD), or a new report changes the reading (back to PIPELINE, or to DROPPED).

HELD: owned

What happens
The owner has bought. A stop, a price at which the position is sold regardless, was set before entry and is recorded.
The tool does
Every night, checks the price against the stop and reports a breach as the first thing on the page. A held name with no stop is a blocker, reported before anything else.
The owner does
Re-values on every report. Sells at the stop or when the reason for buying is gone.
Falls out when
The owner sells. The sale is recorded and measured against the market from its own date.

DROPPED: refused

What happens
The name has been refused: a hard kill, a class D reason, outside the circle, or the owner's judgement.
The tool does
Does not watch it at all. Records the refusal in the shadow book with the price of the day and one line of reason (chapter 12).
The owner does
Nothing. Reads the shadow book once a year.
Falls out when
It does not. A dropped name can be re-entered at INTAKE by the owner, as a new decision, with a new record.

The thing to notice

Every arrow between the boxes is the owner's act. The tool measures where a name stands, reports it, and points when something crosses a line. It never moves a name. If the owner does nothing, nothing moves. That is a design decision, and chapter 13 says why.

The exact rules

Statuses: vss/rules.py. INTAKE: ruling E111. PIPELINE entry stamps and the frozen gate: rulings E12 and E93. The two waiting lists: ruling E27. The disclosure filter: vss/watch.py. The nightly price comparison: vss/runner.py, vss/rules.py. Sales: ruling B45, vss/sales.py. Refusals: ruling E114, vss/shadowbook.py.

Sources for this chapter

  1. Statuses and the rulings that govern moves between them — read from this repository: vss/rules.py; vss/watch.py; reference/FRAMEWORK-EDITS.md E12, E27, E93, E111, E114

The slow way, made survivable. Built 2026-09-13 from the repository as it stood that day. NAME A and NAME B are fictional; no company, price or holding appears on this site. Not financial advice: one private investor's method, shared as it is.